First off, this product works amazingly well. Works 98{60f78fc10f9d225dae0ba0255c415eaf093f5a3220b43cdf3df82aaf7b5f9e5d} of the time on the first try with no interference, amazingly easy to upload and track information via […]. Please note several things that may require this item to not work on your computer that many people overlook:

1) The installation software MUST be downloaded via Internet Explorer.
When I tried to download the software via Google Chrome or FireFox, the Daemon would not install at all, which rendered the product useless, as this daemon file is what allows the upload to the polar website. If you don’t download the software via internet explorer, odds are it won’t work. Tried this on 4 computers, none of which would install it correctly using ANY browser other than Internet Explorer.

2) The FlowLink itself can NOT sit on a metal surface and successfully sync your Heart-rate Monitor.
It says in the instructions, in smaller print, that the syncing process is based on a magnetic field to transfer data between your watch and the flowlink pad. If the pad itself is on a metal surface, such as a metal desk, the sync between the watch and your computer has a *very* high chance of failure. I experimented with this and found that it only successfully synced about 30{60f78fc10f9d225dae0ba0255c415eaf093f5a3220b43cdf3df82aaf7b5f9e5d} of the time on a metal surface compared with 98{60f78fc10f9d225dae0ba0255c415eaf093f5a3220b43cdf3df82aaf7b5f9e5d} success on my wooden desk. Please take note of this.

3) Despite what the website and other reviewers say, the software and the product are both very compatible with OS’s.
This product is NOT compatible with a Mac, unfortunately, but it is widely compatible with Windows. I have installed on 4 different machines, 2 running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, one running Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit and one running Windows XP 64-bit. Works flawlessly on all of the installed machines, so those that complain about a lack of Windows 7 or 64-bit support are probably either trying to download with a browser other than Internet Explorer or have their FlowLink sitting on a metal desk.

**NOTE**
Be sure to right click the installer file and select “Run as Administrator” when you install. This file does install a Daemon file, which is writing directly to the Windows Services part of the OS. This requires administrator privileges, and just to be safe, make sure that you don’t skip this step!!

I hope you all find this review helpful, as these are some tidbits of information that I believe will solve most of the problems that people are experiencing. Good luck and happy training!

Cheers,
Landon

I was not plagued with the uploading problems many other reviewers had but what use is uploading the data to the polar personal trainer website when you can’t analyze the data? I like to graph and do statistical analysis with the data. To this end, I copy the information into an Excel spreadsheet where I can work with the information. It also lets me look at much more of the data at one time than Polar Personal Trainer does. Save your money as you can read the data off of wrist unit and type it into a spreadsheet where you can do something with it.

Let me preface my following comments with: I am a big fan of Polar products. I have used the F4, and am currently using the FT60, which I find to be a very key piece to me fitness efforts. Polar makes good stuff.

But not the Flowlink. Not even close. Main problem is that it simply doesn’t work very well; the data flow from the FT60 is consistently interrupted (even though I am VERY careful to make sure the device is totally still and undisturbed). The longer I used it the more this problem seemed to be happening. Checking on the Polar website leads me to think they have had some firmwear issues. I do know that my emails to Polar customer service have not been replied to.